Curtains for Miss Plym: A Mary McGill Dog Mystery

At the start of Delaney’s delightful sequel to 2015’s Purebred Dead, retired schoolteacher Mary McGill and her faithful cocker spaniel, Millie, arrive early one morning at St. Mark’s community hall in Santa Louisa, Calif., to prepare for the town’s annual spring rummage sale. Inside the hall, Millie growls and heads for a makeshift dressing area, in which they find wealthy Emilie Plym, slumped in a chair, dressed in her bed clothes, and quite obviously dead. The local police chief later tells Mary that the elderly woman was strangled. But who would want to murder harmless Emilie? At the historic Victorian house that’s been home to the Plyms for generations, Mary encounters several shady and hostile characters, from Emilie’s caretakers to family members, who might have had motive to do her in. Missing Plym money is soon the talk of the gossipy small town. Animal lovers will enjoy this dog-focused cozy with its appealing characters, both two- and four-legged. (Apr.)